my blog

How did the cat get her purr? How did the clever girl stop the Prince who would not stop talking to be quiet at last? How did the little mouse transform into a human princess? Come along to our storytelling session at the Brighton Dome this Saturday morning and find out more! As usual, you will be encouraged to join in the lively and fun songs and actions.

I am delighted to be working as a freelance facilitator with Bigfoot Arts Education. Bigfoot offers a wide range of inspirational drama and creative arts programmes for children, young people and adults throughout England. For more information click on the following link: www.bigfoot-theatre.co.uk

I am presenting a paper at the annual Oral History Society Conference July 13-14, 2012 at Southampton Solent University. This year’s conference is titled Childhoods: Oral History and Traumatic Experiences. I will be addressing the question - How do we work with traumatic stories through oral history, life writing and performance in a creative and healing way, and to avoid re-traumatisation? This presentation will offer a guide of good practice for working with traumatic auto/biographical stories. The guide is grounded in Judith Lewis Herman’s psychotherapeutic model of recovery from trauma, and draws on the research, ideas and practices of prominent writers, storytellers/performers, psychotherapists and trauma theorists including Joyce Kornblatt, Nancy Mellon and Louise de Salvo.

I am working as an oral historian at the Pembridge Palliative Care Centre, Chelsea and Kensington, London.I work with patients to record their life stories in the form of audio CDs, documentary films and written manuscripts.The oral history recordings offer patients the opportunity to reflect on their lives and to create a legacy for their families and friends.

If you would like to know more about this project or would like to offer a similar service at your hospice, please contact me: dvoraliberman@googlemail.com